Writing, Fiction, Writing Tips
7 Writing Techniques so Good They Should be Illegal
I probably shouldn’t be telling you these…
These techniques are so good I probably shouldn’t be telling you them, but they’ve helped me and a lot of other people so…
#1 — Double up technique
A huge mistake that a lot of writers make is that they only give each scene one purpose. To progress the plot, comedic relief, information, romance. But you really should aim for having every scene do at least two things at once.
For example, in Spectre James Bond needs to get some information. But does he have a normal, sit-down conversation with an informant? No. He gets it while romancing an attractive woman.
A little bit later, he needs to have a conversation with Moneypenny. But does it happen over a shaken not stirred martini? No. It happens during a car chase. We get both action and information that develops the plot at the same time.
A beginner writer would make each one of those scenes two scenes — one with the conversations, one with romance and one with the car chase. Instead, you need to combine both scenes into a single scene that’s doing double the work.
